How do I mail merge to postcards (4 per sheet)?

opelman1 · July 7, 2017, 6:12am

I have used mail merge before, long ago in M/S Office (circa 1998), but I remember little about it. I am now trying to use it in LibreOffice. I have read the tutorials and gotten things setup for basic letter addresses from a spreadsheet.

BUT, the setup is for one document per page, and I am trying to print postcards (Avery 5689) which is four postcards in landscape mode per page. I have the Avery template loaded and have created the sheet for the message side using that, and have created the return address for the sheet for the address side, but again, LibreOffice mail merge is only allowing one recipient per page. I need four address from the list printed on each sheet or this will not work.

What do I do? TIA.

opelman1 · July 7, 2017, 6:25am

Some more information …

Let’s say I need to print 100 postcards initially. The idea is print all of side “a”, the message side, using Writer (word) on 25 sheets (4 postcards per sheet). This is a simple straight-forward task using the Avery template in Writer (Word).

Then I can turn the cards over, and print 100 different recipient addresses (along with my return address) on those 25 sheets using Mail Merge within Writer (Word) and Calc (Excel). This is the part I am stumped on, as there doesn’t initially seem to be a way to print more than one address per physical sheet of paper (which is four separate cards in my case).

Can you please help? Thanks in advance!

Briancady413 · February 11, 2020, 4:03pm

Good news and bad: Good: I printed / mail merged four-to-a-sheet unique addresses onto postcard stock somehow for a 12 postcard sample. Bad: then I failed to print identical text on each backside, like you’ve done. I will mail merge again and keep good notes on what I’m doing, then write it in here.

robleyd · July 7, 2017, 7:13am

See if this helps - from the (AOO) Help:

Designing Labels and Business Cards
You can design both labels and business cards through the Labels dialog.

Choose File - New - Labels to open the Labels dialog.
On the Labels tab, under Format, define the label format.
OpenOffice Writer contains many formats of commercially available sheets for labels, badges, and business cards. You can also add other, user-defined formats.
On the Labels tab, under Inscription, you can choose what you want written on the labels.
This often involves database fields, so that the labels can be printed with varying content, when sending “Form Letters” for example. It is also possible to have the same text printed on every label.
Use the Database and Table list boxes to select the database and table from which the data fields are obtained. Click on the arrow button to transfer the selected data field into the inscription area. Press Enter to insert a line break. You can also enter spaces and any other fixed text.
On the Format tab you can define your own label formats, not covered by the predefined formats. To do this, select “User” from the Type list box. On the Options tab, you can specify whether all labels or only certain ones are to be created.
On the Options tab page, make sure that the Synchronize contents box is selected. If this is selected, a label only has to be entered (on the top left label) and edited once.
As soon as you click on New Document, you will see a small window with the Synchronize Labels button. Enter the first label. When you click on the Synchronize Labels button, the current individual label is copied to all the other labels on the sheet.
Click on New Document to create a new document with the settings you have entered.

Adapt as necessary to your circumstances.

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Briancady413 · February 11, 2020, 6:03pm

I printed unique addresses mail-merged onto four-to-a-sheet postcards successfully.
A. I started by setting up a new paper size: Postcard, 4.25" by 5.5". This was by following advice to:

Click on the fourth-down ‘Styles’ button on the LO right border when a mailmerge doc is open. Styles menu pops up.
Click on the fourth-from-left button ‘Page Styles’, near the top.
Click on the right-most button ‘Styles actions’. a menu drops down
With ‘default style’ highlit, click on ‘New Style from Selection’ in dropdown menu.
A menu pops up. I entered ‘Postcard’ in new style name, and hit ‘OK’.
‘Postcard’ appears as a new page style. I highlit it, then right-clicked.
Menu pops up. I selected ‘Modify’.
a ‘Page Style: Postcard’ window opens. Under the ‘Page’ tab, with ‘User’ as Format, I set width to 5.5", height to 4.25" orientation to ‘landscape’, and margins to 0.10", then hit ‘OK’.

B. Mail merge setup.

Then under ‘Tools’ I choose ‘Address
Book Source’ and linked my address
database, and assigned fields.
1. Then I entered into the file the mail merge fields,
  a. I put the
  cursor where I wanted an address
  field on the card, then,
  b. clicked
  the ‘Insert Field’ button on the top
  menu’s top row. A menu appeared.
  c.
  I clicked ‘More Fields’
  d. then I
  highlit ‘Mail Merge fields’ under
  ‘Type’, clicked open, under
  ‘Database selection’, my
  database, then opened the table
  within it, then selected the
  field to insert.
  e. I repeated
  this for each needed address field,
  then hit ‘close’
2. Then I saved the document/file.
3. Now there are, within <> arrows, address field names forming
  an address on my postcard file.
  hovering the cursor over anyone
  reveals the
  ‘Database.Table.Field’ it’s linked
  to.

C. Printing:

Printer Setup: Under Properties…, I selected Paper size: 'Manual", and Orientation: ‘Landscape’
2. I selected ‘Print’, then a ‘…want to print a form letter?’ question menu popped up
3. I hit ‘yes’…
4. I won’t elaborate on some of the other mail merge steps, assuming they’re well-known.
5. Under the ‘Mail Merge’ menu, I selected all records, and Output to printer, then hit ‘OK’.
6. A 'Print menu opens up. Under the ‘General’ tab, I chose ‘All pages’, number of copies ‘1’, Paper size: ‘Letter’ Orientation ‘Landscape’ and pages per sheet: 4
7. I hit ‘OK’ and printing happened, four-cards-to-a-Letter-sized-sheet.